We’re so glad this accident didn’t end up far, far worse. But it’s a timely warning that the mesh inside boys’ swim suits may not be as safe as it looks.

We’ve all seen it when we buy boys’ swim shorts – that white synthetic netting that sits inside the outer fabric. Today, one mum warns that this meshed netting can be more dangerous than it looks, as she tells the terrifying story of her son Jack’s penis getting ‘strangled’ inside it, to the point that he could have lost his penis altogether.

Laura Collins was on holiday in Spain with her five-year-old son Jack earlier this month when she took him into the shower to remove his swim shorts. As she pulled them down she realised that his penis was caught in the netting and, as she wrote on a Facebook post, “literally strangling it”.

NO MOTHER SHOULD HAVE TO SEE HER CHILD IN SUCH PAIN

“He was screaming a scream I hadn’t heard before,” she wrote. As Jack wailed in pain, Laura raced her little boy to the medical centre at the hotel where she was staying, only to learn they were unable to help her.

“I carried him to reception and asked for some scissors,” the 33-year-old weight loss club consultant told The Mirror. But neither she nor the hotel staff were able to free the distressed little boy’s penis. “There were two little bubbles, like skin, on either side,” she said. “Like it was going to burst.”

DOCTORS SAY IT WASN’T THE FIRST TIME THEY’D SEEN THIS

Panicked, Laura raced Jack to the nearest hospital where doctors gave him a local anaesthetic and managed to cut his penis free.

At first they were concerned that there would be permanent damage to the boy’s urinary tract or other internal structures, but soon Jack was able to urinate properly and doctors confirmed that there was no lasting damage.

Doctors in the hospital said that they had seen this sort of thing happen before – and warn that it is more common than parents realise.

LITTLE BOYS NEED TO LEARN TO PROTECT THEIR PENISES

Little boys’ penises are particularly susceptible to accidents, as often the proportions of foreskin and penis don’t match up while they are still young – meaning they can either get caught or trapped in various ways. Little boys are also not aware of how sensitive and delicate this area is, and have a tendency to treat it with less care than a grown man would.

I know a young boy the same age as the child in this story who was raced to hospital when he pulled his foreskin back in the bath and got it stuck there. Like Jack, he was in agony. The hospital gave him sedative gas and managed to free it but it was a frightening experience and one that doctors warned happens too often.

THANKFULLY, LITTLE JACK IS HAPPY AND WELL

Laura says that her Jack has recovered without any issues, however she is warning other parents to be extra careful with the netting in boys’ swimming costumes, urging them to cut it out so this won’t happen to them.

“Jack was very upset about it afterwards but as five year olds do, he’s bounced back,” Laura told The Mirror. “He keeps talking about it now but he’s fine. He talks about how he nearly lost his willy on holiday and goes on about the naughty netting. He’s been warning all his friends as he doesn’t want the same thing to happen to them.”

“Please, those with young children,” Laura begged on Facebook, “remove the netting in swim shorts.”

We’re so glad to hear that young Jack is feeling his old self again and enjoyed the rest of his holiday with no more mishaps.